RESOURCES - SINGLE AND DIVORCING PARENTS

Should Same-sex Couples Be Permitted to Adopt?

This seems like a classic example of the Burger King chain's advertising: "Have it your way." In other words, political considerations often lead a potential candidate for the presidency to speak out of both sides of his/her mouth in the hope that all of his constituents will hear what they want to hear.

The Boston Globe reported on March 14, 2006, that Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, in an appearance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis on Friday, March 10th, reiterated his position that "every child in American has the right to a mother and a father." The gathering is an important early event for those positioning themselves as presidential hopefuls. But on March 13th, Romney backed off a little, telling reporters that same-sex couples have "a legitimate interest in adopting children."

Apparently, in an effort to placate part of his constituency that favors gay and lesbian rights, Romney said he would file a "very narrow" bill aimed at letting Catholic Charities, the social service arm of the Boston Archdiocese, and other religious groups exclude same-sex couples from their adoption programs if including them violates religious tenets. But he also noted that gays and lesbians have a right to adopt.

Although Romney said later at a press conference that same-sex couples may feel discriminated against by his proposal, he said that “there are many, many other agencies that can meet the needs of those gay couples, and I recognize that they have a legitimate interest in being able to receive adoptive services."

Romney is laying the groundwork for a possible presidential campaign in 2008, thus in recent months, he has sought to strike a balance between his opposition to same-sex marriage and his role as the executive officer in a state where such marriages are legal. The Boston Globe reports that in out-of-state speeches to GOP audiences, Romney often attacks the Supreme Judicial Court for its November 2003 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, which made Massachusetts the first state to do so.

Romney’s statements are less offensive than ones he made before beginning to position himself as a Republican hopeful candidate for the presidency. Last year, for example, gay-rights supporters accused him of belittling gay parents after he told a Republican audience in South Carolina, ''Some are actually having children born to them."

Also last year, Romney publicly criticized an effort to use gender-neutral language to describe parents on birth certificates, saying: "It's not right on paper. It's not right in fact. Every child has a right to a mother and a father."